I saw a post on a Facebook page this morning that has me fuming. The page is for an Australian winery called Bonking Frogs Wine. They have a friendly, homey, fun kind of facebook page. The kind of page that makes you feel like you’re part of a funky community of earthy naturists who have the education and money to enjoy the finer things in life. Between the images of llamas and the yard art competition you could easily forget that Bonking Frogs is a commercial page selling a product. Every second post on that page is either carefully chosen to sell you a lifestyle rich in culture and natural beauty or it’s a silly meme promoting the idea that drinking too much wine is fun, funny and normal.

In the tradition of “community sharing” on facebook pages Bonking Frogs posted this child’s drawing last night. The caption above it reads

” My friends daughter had a school assignment to write one sentence about a family member and draw a picture of it.”

The child’s drawing of a woman sitting at a table with a goblet of red wine about the size of her head in front of her says “My Mom Likes Drinking Wine” in large rough letters. There are 178 “likes” and over 47 comments from women sharing a familiar laugh over the commonality of Mommy’s wine time.

Before you jump to the conclusion that I am critical of the women who “liked” or commented on that post with endless smiley emojis I am not. I am a mother and I was once a very enthusiastic wine drinker. I was the kind of wine drinker who’s children might very well have drawn that picture of me so I understand and empathize with anyone who gets caught up in the routine of pouring wine over their aching brain at the end of a long hard day. I enjoyed wine for many years before it became a dangerous ball and chain and it took me a long time to figure out how to stop drinking once I suspected that I needed to.

I’m fuming that Bumping Frogs is using this innocent childs drawing to sell their wine to women who may be drinking too much of it already. They’ve taken the whole addictive behavior marketing push one step further than Mommie’s Time Out wine and the hideously ill advised Mommie’s Sippy Cup portable, plastic, mini van friendly wine glass. Using a child’s drawing to encourage camaraderie among women over addictive behavior is vile.

Whether they are selling user friendly, flavored vodkas or artsy, earthy wine, the alcohol industry is selling an addictive substance with little or no regulation. In the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia dangerous addictive drinking is on the rise among women who are also the primary shoppers in most households. Wineries seem to be appealing to our sense of taste and style, but their marketing strategies work by making it seem that daily heavy drinking is the norm.

As a high functioning professional and mother who bought the idea that drinking wine was essential to my functioning as an adult , this kind of marketing campaign makes my blood boil. I would most likely have eventually found myself addicted to alcohol even without the media push for women to luxuriate in our wine time but this kind of campaign made it much harder forc me to stop.

In the English speaking world my generation grew up understanding that we could and should have it all. We grew up learning that other women; our friends, sisters, mothers and daughters could be our biggest allies and that together we are a force to reckon with. The day after the presidential inauguration in the United States it was the Women’s marches that brought the world to the streets. We are a generation that is fighting together for our rights but we allow ourselves to be used against one another by these alcohol marketing ploys.

The kind of community support that was shown on the Bonking Frogs Facebook post for moms to drink; the kind of support that I’ve seen in so many internet posts and blogs and articles for women to defend their right to drink; that is the kind of support that those of us who find we are drinking too much need to STOP.

If you’re drinking a too much a too often talk to us.

Alcohol is the only drug that people question you for NOT using but you don’t HAVE to drink. Don’t stay trapped because the stigma of not drinking seems worse than the cost of drinking to much.

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